Why do most authors write a book? It may be due to inspiration, motivation, life changes, contract requirements or all of the above.

I wrote a book titled, “A Practical Guide to Awareness” because I was inspired to do so. The book is a step by step guide to finding fulfilment through self-awareness.

Apparently, I could no longer ignore the little voice in my head. The voice was whispering to me practically my entire life. As a native of West Palm Beach growing up, I had always known I was to write a book, but little else about it. I went on to a career in public relations and had a family and settled down thinking that was it for me.

Flashback – December 2014 to an email I received containing the information regarding a ‘Conscious Writing Retreat’ in Glastonbury, Somerset, U.K. The originator of the email was a group I had joined a few years earlier, the International Association of Conscious and Creative Writers, founded by Julia McCutchen. Previously, I did not have time to engage in writing prompts and exercises meant to inspire my creative spark. However, this day I was attracted to the information and my gut instinct told me to follow through on signing up for the retreat. I did and was supported in doing so from that day onward. I followed the inspiration and wound up in England that Spring of 2015 participating in what would prove to be a life changing experience in every way.

To describe the process as transformative is the most accurate way to understand how the process affected me, my business, and my family. I arrived as one person and left as a totally different entity with a new way of looking at the world. How did that occur?

You may be wondering…

The process of Conscious Writing is meant to help align oneself with the creative consciousness in order to write what you are meant to write. It works, trust me.

The first day of the retreat, I wrote the outline for the book and started writing the book itself within the gardens of the Glastonbury Abbey ruins. The rest is history as they say and in January of this year, I self published the book.

3 Ways To Market Your Podcast

Why do you need to market your podcast? Well, for one thing, people won't know its there unless you have tons of listeners. So, besides optimizing the podcast episode title and description, consider creating a show summary on a blog or website and embedding the audio file within the page.

1) Create a show summary and embed it on your blog or website.

Google appreciates the added context and will rank websites and blogs that incorporate multimedia higher than those that don’t.

2) Transcribe episodes for the blog or to create additional content to promote the episode on social media or your website. Syndicate the blog or episode summary page via social media in addition to syndicating a link to a podcatcher or host site. For visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, utilize behind-the-scenes images or video as teasers for upcoming (and archived) episodes. Don’t forget to syndicate to Google+, as the platform is utilized by Google to inform organic search results. For YouTube, leverage playlists to combine relevant episodes. If your podcast is business-related consider posting teasers and episodes to LinkedIn, as well as support via targeted advertising to maximize listenership.

For visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, utilize behind-the-scenes images or video as teasers for upcoming (and archived) episodes. Don’t forget to syndicate to Google+, as the platform is utilized by Google to inform organic search results. For YouTube, leverage playlists to combine relevant episodes. If your podcast is business-related consider posting teasers and episodes to LinkedIn, as well as support via targeted advertising to maximize listenership.

To maximize reach and rankings, boost posts on platforms like Facebook and consider testing a targeted ad campaign to grow your subscriber-base. The added benefit of advertising is that you can grow your listenership quickly, and influence visibility on podcatchers. Generating significant listens in the first 24-48 hours can help earn a spot on iTune’s New & Noteworthy section, for example. Speaking of rankings, the best way to maximize visibility on podcatchers is to maximize downloads, subscribes, ratings and reviews, so remind listeners to support you with calls-to-action. For podcasters looking to grow a large following and revenue, explore a pay-per-conversion affiliate program for referring site traffic resulting in listeners. Also consider expanding advertising to Google with text and display ads.

Don’t forget marketing fundamentals when promoting your podcast. Incorporate a link to your latest podcast or episode page in your email signature file. Promote episodes in your newsletter and on your home page. Provide pre-made promos to guests and partners to maximize reach. A more advanced strategy is to identify and engage superlisteners (evangelists). Bonus marketing ideas include leveraging timely news and media outlets and exploring cross-promotional opportunities with other podcasters/shows.

Creating a podcast doesn’t have to be daunting, but it does require a reasonable investment of time and money to do it right. The investment is typically much less than video and other form factors, and podcasts have the added benefit of expanding into a relatively under-appreciated but fast-growing format: audio branding. Take advantage of the current excitement and growing consumption of podcasts to build your brand.

Podcasting is a growing medium for marketers to tell a brand’s story. The numbers are astounding, and reflect similar growth in video over the last few years. Recent research by Edison Research shows that 11% more Americans listened to podcasts in 2016 when compared to the prior year. Over 110 million Americans listened to a podcast at least once in 2016, and 67 million Americans listen to at least one podcast a month. Phones and tablets are the preferred device to listen to a podcast with two-thirds being accessed through those devices.

If you are marketer, you have to pay attention to podcasting. The phenomenon is only expected to increase as Google moves into the space. Currently 500,000 active podcasts exists, and Google predicts that number will double in the next few years. Google is paying attention to these statistics and is moving toward incorporating podcasts into search results — much like it does with video where search results are broken down into separate boxes at the top of the screen.

Leaders at Google understand the power of podcasts, and they know that podcasts can do what Google is designed for — answer a query. Podcasts contain large amounts of information on a particular topic, and Google wants to make it easier to access that information through search.

“Right now Google is really good at giving you text and video related to your search query,” said Google Podcasts Product Manager Zack Reneau-Wedeenin a recent interview with Pacific Content. “With all the amazing work podcasters are publishing each day, there’s no good reason why audio isn’t a first-class citizen in the same way.”

Google has already started to incorporate podcasts into search results on Android and Google Assistant. On an Android device, a play button appears for several different podcast after a search is done. That gives the user several options on a podcast that answered the query. The user is also given the option of subscribing to the podcast.Google's Reneau-Wedeen says the strategy right now is partially to increase podcast access on Android devices. Currently 10 times more people listen to podcasts on an iPhone compared to Android devices.

The easier access to podcasting has been positive, as more people are listening to podcasts on the Android, according to Reneau-Wedeen.

“Since our first launch, we’ve seen a surprising number of people return through search day in and day out,” he said in the Pacific Content interview. “That’s why we felt the need to build out a full-featured podcast player and make the experience easier to access.”

Marketers must prepare for this new reality, as Google will mostly likely make podcasting search results available to all users, not just those with an Android device.Consumers are looking for information on entertainment and education, and they will be able to find that information more easily in podcast format through Google. A brand can fill that need if it finds the right way to tell a story on a podcast.

Pew Research has released a new report summarizing social media usage and found, of the 68 percent of Americans using Facebook, 74 percent check the site daily and 51 percent say are on the platform several times a day.

Conducted over the phone during a three-day period early in January, Pew polled 2,002 US adults age 18 and over about their social media use on the following eight platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter and WhatsApp.

For the most part, Facebook usage has not changed dramatically since the research firm’s April 2016 report. Facebook is still the most popular traditional social media platform for all the respondents.

YouTube is also attracting a large segment of users, even though Pew admits it’s not necessarily considered a traditional social media site. In fact, it had higher user numbers than Facebook, with 73 percent of all respondents saying they use YouTube (The report did not have numbers for previous YouTube usage as this was the first year it was included in the survey questions, along with Snapchat and WhatsApp).

Social media usage growth by platform

Pew’s data showed the typical — or median — adult reports using three of the eight social sites included in the survey. Same as Facebook’s numbers, most of the usage for these sites has remained relatively unchanged since the firm’s 2016 report.

The biggest jump Pew saw in usage was on Instagram, with 35 percent of respondents now using the site compared to the 28 percent who reported using it two years ago.

Social media use among younger crowds

When looking at usage numbers by age group, Pew Research reports 88 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds are using some form of social media. The report broke down the social media usage for this age group into categories: 18- to 24-year-olds and 24- to 29-year-olds. Here is what they found:

Social Media Usage Among 18- to 24-Year-Olds

80 percent are on Facebook

78 percent are on Snapchat

71 percent are on Instagram

45 percent are on Twitter

94 percent use YouTube

This age group represents the largest share of Snapchat users of the various age groups. Among the 78 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds using Snapchat, 82 percent say they open the app daily, and 71 percent say they use it multiple times per day.

Instagram is getting slightly less use by this group. Of the 71 percent on Instagram, 81 percent say they visit the site daily and just over half (55 percent) are going several times a day.

Social Media Usage Among 25- to 29-Year-Olds

80~ percent are on Facebook

54 percent are on Snapchat

54 percent are on Instagram

30~ percent are on Twitter

80~ percent use YouTube

This slightly older age group of 25- to 29-year-olds have similar usage patterns for Facebook and YouTube when compared to the 18- to 24-year old crowd.

The numbers differ more widely between the two age groups when looking at Snapchat and Instagram, with this older age group of 25- to 29-year-olds less likely to use either of the two platforms.

Where ‘the Olds’ go on social

Per the report, 84 percent of the 30- to 49-year-old age group is visiting YouTube, and 80 percent are on Facebook.

Social media usage numbers for the 30- to 49-year-old age group drops significantly for Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter — with 40 percent of this population active on Instagram, and less than 30 percent on Snapchat or Twitter.

For the 50+ age group, usage numbers are even lower across the board: 56 percent on YouTube and 55 percent on Facebook. These numbers take a nosedive from there, with 16 percent on Instagram, 14 percent on Twitter and only seven percent on Snapchat.

We can stop whenever we want

According to Pew’s research, 59 percent of all the social media users surveyed said they thought it would not be hard to give up social media (with nearly half of the 59 percent claiming it would not be hard “at all”).

Percentage who say it would not be hard to give up social media by age group:

49 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds

60 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds

56 percent of 30- to 49-olds

66 percent of the 50+ age group

The only age group where the majority (51 percent) said they would find it difficult to stop using social sites was the 18- to 24-year-olds.

With so many people admitting they check their preferred social media sites daily, the responses given for how easy it would be to quit feels doubtful at best — especially when considering the percentage of users who admit to going to social media sites several times a day: 51 percent of Facebook users, 49 percent of Snapchat users, and 38 percent of Instagram users.

To begin with more people are searching on their mobile phones using voice activated technology.

So that means when you are using keywords in your SEO plan, think of how we talk, not type. It translates to longer key phrases and tags.

For local businesses, be extremely specific with the category of your business on Google My Business or whichever search engine you choose. Keep your pages updated with photos and specials as frequently as possible, at least weekly so people can see what you are up to.

Mobile First Indexing:

Every website should be mobile friendly by now. User experience is important here. And as Google moves to mobile first indexing, it will rank your site as it relates to the mobile search experience.

Artificial Intelligence or RankBrain:

Yes everything is going artificial intelligence, virtual reality etc.. etc... what does that mean for you as a small business or a large business for that matter? It means that you need to keep viewers or readers on your site as long as possible. Google is giving Dwell Time more and more significance. To capitalize on Dwell Time, you need engaging content. Content marketing must keep in mind your target audience.

That takes us to Click Through Rates and how you can get better CTR. Update titles and page description tags with some of these:

- Best

- News

- Reviews

- Right Now

- Simple

- Step-by-Step

An SEO plan must fit in with your overall marketing plan, as it involves all aspects of content marketing, social media, PR, community outreach, offline campaigns and etc..

In other words whatever you are developing for your SEO efforts must be included in all aspects of your content marketing. Its like leaving the yeast out of the bread or whatever you are baking right? So make a comprehensive effort to move your search rank ahead in 2018 by planning ahead.

Any questions or needs we can help send an email to susan@snefzgerpr.com

Choose 2-3 colors that you want to use to communicate the look and feel of your brand.

Fonts are the same idea, when choosing it, think about how you and others feel when seeing the fonts and how they impact that feeling.

Verbiage is everything. From advisors to board of directors, ask others to define your service or brand in an elevator pitch or two sentence description. Then you can compare how you the founder sees it vs. how the people who are helping you see it. It can bring diverging thoughts together and create more consistent messaging.

Invest the time to clearly articulate a set of standards for every message that leaves your office. No point is too small — even the order of the words you use in your tagline matters.

Make sure the internal message is the same as your external message. When employees, counselors, Board of Directors members, family and friends define and describe your brand, try to provid them with a two sentence description that is easy to remember.

Boilerplate messaging is the utmost communication of your brand, much like your mission statement.

Using the boilerplate at the end of letters, emails, press releases, all communications is the way to enforce the brand consistency.

So you can see how every detail counts when you are starting to market your brand, this will paint a clear picture of what and who you are. If you have trouble doing this, include your staff, team, and advisors to help smooth out the inconsistencies. For more details read this great article from First Round.com.http://firstround.com/review/this-brand-strategy-can-make-your-startup-look-bigger-than-it-is/

If you want to hear how to shake up your life and go for it, listen to Katerina Cozias on "Life After 40"her talk radio show featuring people from all walks of life who pursue their passion after the traditional life of college, working and raising a family, or pursuing a conventional career instead of their dream on http://latalkradio.com/content/la40 on Thursday, July 13th at 2p.m. EST.

I will discuss my upcoming book, "A Practical Guide to Awareness", which I created during the last two years after attending a Conscious Writing retreat in Glastonbury England. The founder of the International Association of Conscious and Creative Writing, Julia McCutchen, is the leading figure behind this pioneering movement.

It was there during the retreat that I began writing the book, and have since finished and am almost completed with editing to publish. I also began writing a blog, Seeing Beyond the Ordinary, which features my poetry and my photography, which is www.snefzgerpr.wordpress.com.

The transformation has been integrated throughout the last two years in my business practice, my personal relationship and how I choose to align with people in my life including family, colleagues, and all. Conscious Writing, the practice, is about aligning with the creative consciousness to discover your true voice with which to write. Everyone has a unique story to tell. Staying in alignment is the way to continue being creative but also being happy and having a happier life.

You'll find out how I have navigated the changes on Thursday at 2 p.m. on LA40. Tune in!

LinkedIn is the most professional social media tool and is very high in search rankings for all of us. So, I'm reposting this as I saw it again on another blog. For clients its really important also, to update your profile on all your social media not just LinkedIn.

1) Update your headshot on LinkedIn if you can do so. That also updates your algorithm on Google as "fresh content".

2) Make sure your contact information is available to the public on your profile not just people in your network. It is so exasperating to search for services, professionals, etc... and not have an email or phone number to be able to utilize for contact.

3) Regular activity on LinkedIn is a necessity to your high rank in Search Results. Remember "fresh content",

and your algorithm - it is updated as you interact and build relationships online. That includes LinkedIn. Share posts, write articles, like other posts, and get involved in conversations that you can professionally contribute towards.

4) Group join and follow companies. Do go ahead and join groups and follow companies to get relevant content.

It's very imporant to learn new research and information to keep up with the industry you are working within.

Follow companies that can help your employer, or your business and get involved in group conversations.

5) Update your volunteer profile. If you are involved in volunteering, add it to your profile. Its a great plus for would be employers or clients.

If you or anyone you know needs help with LinkedIn, call or email me today.

I'm happy to talk to you about ways to improve your search rankings online. LinkedIn is just one easy way to do so. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/snefzgerpr)

Hackers love social media sites. LinkedIn was targeted last year, with details of over 100 million users put up for sale on the dark web. Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had his accounts compromised. In fact, almost two-thirds of U.S. adults believe their social media accounts have been hacked, according to a study by the University of Phoenix. And many Fortune 100 brands experience at least one attack on their social media channels each business day, sometimes with disastrous effects.

You might think your business is safe.Hackers do it for fun, its a sport for them.

Hacked social media accounts can be inconvenient and annoying for anyone, but for a business it can be devastating and it can ruin your brand’s credibility. In March, hackers managed to access the Twitter account for McDonald’s and send out a derogatory post aimed at President Trump. But McDonald’s is a well established, multinational brand and they could gain control of their account quickly. Could your business do the same? Here are six steps to help keep your company’s social media accounts secure.

Monitor Password Practices

A strong password is the first step in good social media security. Make sure you change your social media passwords regularly and ensure each password is a meaningless string of letters, numbers and special characters. Wherever possible, use two-factor authentication. This means you need more than just a password to access an account. Each time you log in, the site will send a unique passcode to a mobile number registered to the account. If you have several people monitoring your social channels, this may be inconvenient. However, there are always ways around it. For example, you could use third-party apps such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social, which allow you to easily manage access rights for individuals.

Educate Employees

All employees should receive some basic training in social media security. More than 60% of enterprises allow their staff to use personal devices to access corporate data, so it is important that your staff knows what to look out for, both on their own accounts and on company pages. If a member of your team has their account hacked, the hacker may well target their place of work first, posting unsavory messages on your company’s social channels.

Implement a Social Media Policy

A formal social media policy means that everyone can be aware of the standards and expectations. This doesn’t need to be a lengthy document but should include details of what is considered good practice. Among many other things, it could specify that all devices used to access the organization’s social media accounts are password-protected and are locked when not in use. It could also explicitly state that passwords should not be written down or passed around among employees (unless authorized to do so) and should be changed every 90 days.

Limit Access by Apps and Staff

Choose carefully which staff members have access to your social media accounts. You could also consider using third-party management tools that allow you to give them access to social accounts without having password access. Always keep a log of exactly who has access to which accounts and ensure it is audited and updated regularly.

Passwords should be changed whenever staff members leave, even if they leave on good terms. Employees are often the weakest link when it comes to social media security. One infamous example: In 2013, UK staff at entertainment retailer HMV found themselves being laid off and the company’s Twitter account quickly hit the news when Tweets started appearing declaring, “We’re all being fired!” The tweets were, of course, later deleted, but nothing is ever completely removed from the Internet and screenshots abound of tweets that look bad for the brand.

There are hundreds of tools available that help you to schedule and manage your social media accounts. But you can’t be complacent once these tools are set up. It’s important to regularly audit which apps have access to your accounts. If you no longer use a certain app or don’t recognize its name, revoke access, to help keep your account secure.

Hire a Social Media Manager

Rather than giving access to everyone on the team and then waste time trying to monitor it, consider hiring a social media manager to take care of your channels. They should not only update your accounts regularly but also monitor your brand’s presence online and look out for any signs of a problem.

For help with your social media marketing call me today at 5616329525.

1. Be a good communicator.
Social media is really a crowd of people talking -- usually to each other. So, you'll need to figure out how to cut through the noise and really engage with people. Here are a few pointers:

Write well. I'm not just talking about punctuation and grammar. Write in a comfortable voice, not a formal one. Don't use four words when one will do. Unless your social-media post (Facebook update or tweet) is time sensitive, set it aside for 10 minutes. Come back to it, take a second look and edit if needed, before hitting publish.

Use images when it makes sense. At my internet-marketing agency Portent, we've found that posts with images get about two to three times more interaction.

Utilize video. Use platforms like YouTube or Vimeo to attract an audience. Just like images, make sure you're sharing videos that make sense.

Take advantage of all social networks. While most people spend their time communicating on Twitter and Facebook, there are other networks that deserve attention. One being Google+. Yes, it's still a small network, but it is gaining steam, and it integrates with every other Google service. Also, there is SlideShare, a community focused on slide presentations. This site can show your content to thousands. If you have a great video or article, convert it to a SlideShare presentation.

Respond immediately. If someone asks a question or proposes an alternate viewpoint, answer them quickly. This gives people the impression you care about their needs and are responsive.

Don't get emotional. Don't feed the trolls. As your social-media strategy grows, you may see some angry or insensitive replies. Don't react angrily. Reply politely or not at all.

2. Buy advertising.

Don't be shy about paying to promote posts on networks like LinkedIn and Facebook. On Facebook, your posts won't even appear in all of your followers' newsfeeds without paid promotion, so promote if you can afford it.

Always use the targeting tools these platforms provide to avoid aimlessly issuing a single ad at the maximum audience size. After all, the practice won't hit the right audience and it could end up costing you. Instead, create multiple ads targeted toward specific demographics that are a great fit for your product or service. Test and see who provides the highest-quality followers.

3. Avoid me, me, me.
Don't have every post be about yourself or your company. Instead, I recommend posting 80 percent non-promotional, 20 percent promotional. So what else can you share? Here are some ideas:

Answer questions. Search Twitter for questions by typing in a topic, a space and then a question mark. For example, "bicycle tires?" Sift through the result for great questions. Answer them directly or on other networks.

Also, try Google. Start typing in a question, and Google will show you a list of related ones. For example, if you sell rhubarb, type in Google search, "is rhubarb." You'll immediately see the question "is rhubarb poisonous?" Answer them via social media.

Curate content. Point out great information from other sources. This will help readers view you as a reliable resource.

4. Expand beyond your customers.
In social media, you want to attract an audience beyond potential customers. Focus on people who are compelled to respond -- the "weird," as Seth Godin calls them. Even if they never buy from you, they'll tell others about you.

5. Flattery will get you everywhere.
Using tools like Followerwonk or Topsy will help you find the top people in your industry and major influencers. Then find the people who follow them and follow those folks, rather than the industry celebrities. They're far more likely to respond.

If people post something you enjoy, make sure they know it with a retweet, like, favorite or share. If it's really fantastic, consider posting a response on your own blog and link back to it. Over time, they'll get to know you and will be more likely to spread your content.

Even with the above suggestions, there is no magic solution. For every story of a meteoric rise to the top, you'll find 1,000 stories of slow, steady growth. Plan for that, manage expectations and capitalize.

Need help with your social media marketing or content marketing? Let me know, email or call